AAU event a springboard for WPIAL championships

Tri-State Sports & News Service

Taylor Miller made sure she got a little bit of extra work in before the WPIAL Class 3A diving finals Feb. 24 at North Allegheny.

Last weekend, the Latrobe senior and Ohio University recruit traveled east to the Whirlwind Winter Diving Classic, an AAU event in Piscataway, N.J., to sharpen her skills against some of the best in her age group on the eastern seaboard.

And she comported herself well as she finished 12th out of 54 competitors.

“I did really well,” Miller said. “I was consistent with everything I wanted to do, so I can’t complain.”

It was also one more time to take a look at her Pitt Aquatics teammates and top challengers for the WPIAL title — Hampton senior Adrienne White, a Duquesne recruit, and Penn-Trafford junior Paige Kalik. Last year in the WPIAL finals, White finished second with a score of 467.55, Miller came in third with a 465.35 and Kalik fifth with a 440.15. This year, without Taylor Hockenberry of Mars to run away with the title, any of the three could come away with their first championship.

White has finished second eachof the past two years and wouldhave likely won in 2017 had the PIAA biennial realignment not moved Mars and Hockenberry up in classification and into her path. This year, she missed nearly a month of training because of a concussion yet still came in21st in New Jersey.

Kalik could also make waves as she finished second to Taylor in the Westmoreland County Coaches Association meet — one of the rare 11-dive competitions before the WPIAL finals — but came in fourth in New Jersey and beatTaylor by 30 points.

“It definitely helps me just getting the competition into me and being able to compete with a lot of girls that are my level or higher than my level,” Taylor said. “It puts motivation into me for the competition.”

Boys Class 3A

Last year was something of a rarity in WPIAL Class 3A boys diving as underclassmen completely dominated the board.

This year could be more of the same.

Fox Chapel junior Jonah Cagley is the defending champion and could become the first diver to win WPIAL Class 3A championships in both his sophomore and junior seasons since North Allegheny’s Connor Kuremsky won the second and third of his four titles in 2009-10.

Cagley finished last year with a 525.20, which beat Mt. Lebanon’s Owen Johns by 30.30 points. Johns will be back this season as will third-place finisher Austin Shaw of Pine-Richland and No. 4 Mt. Lebanon senior Lucas Bumgarner.

Girls Class 2A

Beaver’s Ava Talorico ran away with the Class 2A girls diving title last year and appeared ready to do the same this year.

As it turns out, the junior already won a state title. In Alabama. Talorico and her family relocated and she competed in the Class 6A-7A state finals Dec. 3 at Auburn University. True to form, she set a state record with her 401.25 in the finals.

It also means that the field for the WPIAL championships is now wide open.

Ringgold junior Anna Vogt was the only other competitor to break 300 points last year and she finished 46.60 points behind Talorico. Blackhawk senior Jamie Elia came in third last year with 288.35, 57.40 points behind Vogt and looks to be the top challenger Feb. 23 at South Park.

Boys Class 2A

South Fayette’s Trevor Maloney was a two-time WPIAL Class 2A champion, but last year there were only six competitors in the field.

Laurel Highlands junior John Ek finished second each of the past two years and looks to be the favorite coming in.